?'I don't know much about ordea or caora, but I've heard that caora is destructive and ordea is constructive. I've seen the effect of caora, and if ordea is the opposite, it could help heal... right?
Lithoa was silent for a while longer. But the silence did not last long.
'Ordea can indeed heal you to so extent. It won't be as effective as you think, because you've never trained and you don't know how to use ordea. So... you probably won't be able to use even a twentieth of its actual power. But you are right, it'll definitely help.'
I would have smiled again when I heard that we really had a chance, but this ti I didn't bother.
I didn't have ti.
'Then let's make it fast, I don't think we have much ti, every second I can heal is important.'
Lithoa sighed deeply in my mind.
'First of all, let tell you, I don't know how to use ordea either, it's limited to a few things I've learned on my own. So a lot depends on you.'
'It's not a problem, it's enough to know that I have a chance. If I fail... then there was no way out of here in the first place.'
I had the feeling that Lithoa was smiling. But I didn't focus too much on that, because, just like , he knew we were in a hurry, and he went straight to telling what I had to do.
'Close your eyes, try to discard your senses.'
I did exactly what he said. I focused all my senses only on his voice echoing in my mind. And Lithoa continued.
'Ordea is an energy in the atmosphere, just like mana. But you cannot control it or draw it into your body like mana. You have to reach for it, and you have to do it with your desires. Focus on your desire to survive, to get your friends out of here. Think good thoughts all the ti. Add your thoughts to your desires and feed the ordea with these feelings.'
It was easy to say... but much more difficult to do. Lithoa knew this too, so he explained everything in detail.
'You have used ordea before, even if not completely. You rember the pale blue glow around your body, right? Think about the things you think about in these monts. Ask for help, beg if necessary. Put your pride aside completely. Ordea is a conscious energy, even a primitive one, so you have to make it respond to you.'
I thought good thoughts, just like he told . I imagined happy monts with my family, I filled my mind with them. I rembered the days when I t Aiden, when I hung out with Julian. I went over and over every single mont I spent with my friends.
I felt a tiny little warmth filling , but I didn't stop, I didn't lose focus.
I channeled this warmth, this good feeling, the happiness that my good mories brought with them... or rather, I tried to channel it.
I imagined the blue-colored energy circulating in the atmosphere, the one responsible for the order of the universe. It was hard to imagine sothing I couldn't see, sothing I had never felt in my life. But still, I tried.
I offered all the warmth, all the good feelings... everything I had accumulated inside to this imaginary energy, as if I were making a sacrifice to a... god. I begged in my mind as if in prayer. As Lithoa said... I didn't care about my pride.
I focused on what I wanted most right now. To survive, to keep my friends alive... to get out of here. To keep moving forward. And at the sa ti... to find sothing that could heal Aiden, whatever that might be.
That tiny, small warmth I felt inside kept growing. But it was slow, so small and ineffective that it could easily be ignored.
I gritted my teeth, focusing even harder. Even this small movent caused all my muscles to spasm with pain, a sharp ache spreading through my limbs. But I kept going.
I begged, wished, and desired. I offered every one of my good feelings, not leaving a single one for myself.
'Please...'
But... there was no answer.
Still, I didn't stop.
'You helped in my worst monts ever. Even if it was faint, even if the effect was hard to feel... you did it. If you chose of your own free will, as Professor Calvin said, please help one more ti.'
I lost touch with the outside world. The gentle breezes of the wind I could feel slowly disappeared, the feeling of warmth vanished. The only thing that remained... was the pain my body was suffering.
'Please. I... I beg... I don't want to die, I don't want my friends to die because of , I don't want to... fail again... so... please...'
But... nothing happened. There was nothing except the presence of that warmth growing inside .
Still, I didn't give up.
So what if there was a chance that my pleas would go unanswered? So what if there was a chance that we might actually die here?
What I clung to in the beginning was just a tiny hope, just... my last struggles, so I didn't care about anything. Pride, pain, or more... I'm ready to give everything.
'If you can really hear , if you really have a consciousness, if you really are the provider of 'order' and its energy... if you really chose ... answer .'
I waited for a while, I felt that even the sensation of pain in my body began to disappear. I was literally cut off from the world.
The only thing I knew existed was myself, the situation I was in... and what I had to do. And that little warmth inside .
Lithoa said I had to convince it, right? I had to make it answer ...
Ah, I... I guess I understand sothing. The things I'm doing... they are not enough.
It's just like a child, then. No, not like a child... like a selfish but blind person.
If I want it to help , if I want it to respond to my desires... I have to offer sothing more. I have to offer sothing that will satisfy it, that will make it want to help .
Not just my desires, not just the good feelings I have... I need sothing else. Sothing to encourage ordea to help .
'Respond to , and I will show you what I can do. I'll show you how I can help in the na of the order you are trying to protect. Just grant this wish, heal a little... and see how much desire I have. And then... decide. Is this person you have chosen worthy of your help or not?'
I didn't stop, after preparing myself briefly and focusing one last ti on that warmth inside ... I made a bet.
'If I fail, don't reach out to again. But if I succeed... then never leave my side. How's that? Do you want to... make a bet with ?'
And... it finally worked. Ordea actually responded to . It... accepted the bet.
The warmth inside suddenly grew so great that I didn't know what was happening. The pain in my body was returning, I could feel the wind and the heat again, and my eyes opened slowly of their own accord.
A comforting feeling enveloped my body, and then... the world turned slightly blue. It was as if I was looking through blue-
colored glasses. But it was still pale, not too intense.
I saw the pale blue surrounding , then slowly becoming brighter and brighter. The warmth that spread through my body... was suddenly drawn to this blue. It was absorbed by it. 19:56
But it didn't disappear completely. Because... it was slowly replaced by another warmth.
I felt the pain diminish in my body. As the world turned bluer and bluer, an involuntary smile appeared on my face, and I just looked up at the sky. But it was not the sky that was my target. Rather, it was sothing that coexisted with it but... sothing I couldn't see.
'Thank you.'
I said it sincerely, really gratefully. And with that, the comforting blue that enveloped my body beca even more intense, even more warm.
"H- ha? Adrian?"
I heard Sue's voice for a mont, then I heard her approaching .
"Don't get too close, Sue. I think... sothing good is happening."
Lucia must have stopped her because her footsteps stopped, but the concern in her voice was not gone.
"What do you an 'I think'?"
Lucia sighed slightly at Sue's question.
"It's happened before. Although... it was quite a pale color then. So don't worry. Trust , didn't he say? He must be doing sothing like this consciously."
I really wanted to listen to what they were saying, but after a while, I shifted my focus away from them, to the comforting feeling around and... the ordea.
I could feel it much more clearly than on previous occasions. It was a bit like mana, but also much different.
Mana was an attributeless energy, so it was just as strange to feel it. It was like seeing sothing without color, slling sothing without sll. But ordea... it was different.
Ordea filled with peace. Just feeling its presence made feel as if I was getting stronger. It was everywhere, there was literally not a single spot where it was not present. It was also very organized, instead of flowing in random places like mana.
It was also... 'constructive' just like I had heard so many tis. Because I could feel myself getting better. Certainly not as fast as I expected. At this rate, it would take about... two hours to fully recover. It was clear that I still couldn't use the ordea fully just like Lithoa had said.
But I didn't need a full recovery. I just needed to be able to stand up, I didn't need anything more. Once I was healed to that point, I could continue to heal gradually.
And so, ti continued to pass slowly.
All my focus was on ordea, trying to perceive how it worked, the differences and similarities with mana, and at the sa ti... I was healing. Slowly, maybe, but steadily.
After half an hour, for example... I was back to the way I was before the previous duel. Fifteen minutes after that, it took less pain and energy to move my body. And another fifteen minutes after that...
My eyes, which I had kept closed, opened again. My lips curled upward as I gazed again at the lush green sky.
I slowly stood up from the floor, well aware of the pain I had suffered before and actually expecting it.
But I had no such difficulty. First, I lifted my upper back, then I tried to stand up with the support of my hands. And I succeeded.
The world was still bluish, my body was still covered in a blue glow. Lucia and Sue were looking at , a little worried, a little curious, but also with an expression as if they could jump in at any mont to help .
But... it didn't matter.
I was able to stand up, my muscles felt like a part of again, rather than separate parts trying to force themselves to fit in.
I had recovered a bit, my body was where I wanted it to be.
On top of that... at this very mont, a difference began to happen in the dungeon.
The ground trembled before ordea had left , and a dark spot appeared among the green lights in the sky. The river in the distance shimred violently, as it had always done since the mont we arrived here.
The night was falling again.
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